Glen Edward Chapman, an innocent man recently released from Central Prison's death row, was nearly sent to his death because of police misconduct of the most egregious nature.

Police detectives lied at Chapman's 1994 trial for two deaths in Hickory. They covered up the existence of a confession by Betty Jean Ramseur's real killer, ditched the results of a photo lineup in Ramseur's case in which someone else was positively identified, hid witness statements in Tenene Yvette Conley's case that pointed to Chapman's innocence and altered other witness statements in Conley's case to make them better fit the officers' theory of guilt. Those fabricated statements were disclosed to the defense lawyers, to throw them off the track.

This gross corruption provided the prosecution with the cherry-picked evidence and false testimony and arguments it needed to try Chapman. The deceit was compounded by ineffective representation by the lawyers assigned to defend Chapman at his trial, as well as by other flaws, including forensic medical evidence that questions whether Conley's death was actually a homicide at all or was perhaps a drug overdose (since her body bore no lethal wounds).

Chapman passed a lie detector test in the Ramseur case after his arrest; his trial attorneys never arranged for him to take one in the Conley case.

After Chapman's post-conviction attorneys were given access to the complete state files, a top-notch investigator and mitigation specialist spent years investigating the case and evidence of innocence. Following six post-conviction hearings over the course of four years, Superior Court Judge Robert C. Ervin's detailed and well-reasoned order granting Chapman a new trial, and Catawba County District Attorney James Gaither Jr.'s decision to dismiss the charges, the legal system finally worked for Chapman. He is a free man, but it took over 15 years.

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LIKE BETTY JEAN RAMSEUR, TENENE YVETTE CONLEY AND THEIR FAMILIES, CHAPMAN IS ALSO A VICTIM. He was released from death row with 10 minutes' notice, one outfit, no counseling, no money and no assistance from the state after being incarcerated for over 15 years for crimes he did not commit.

He is now beginning the difficult process of acclimating to life as a free man, looking for a job and finding a place to live, with the daily obstacles of intolerance, ignorance and fear resulting from his previous incarceration.

A recent letter to the editor, responding to the news story "Another innocent inmate leaves state's death row," exemplified the obstacles that Chapman will have to overcome. The letter-writer, who works for the state Attorney General's Office but is not involved in death penalty cases, failed to point out that the office did not even appeal the order granting a new trial and elected not to be involved in any retrial.

The writer also ignored critical evidence of Chapman's innocence produced during his post-conviction hearings. For example, then-Chief Investigator Dennis Rhoney withheld credible evidence that another man confessed to having killed Betty Jean Ramseur. Rhoney also withheld evidence that a key witness identified someone other than Chapman as the man who prosecutors argued was seen with Ramseur the day she was murdered at the location where her body was later found.

Although Chapman's two cousins told jurors that he had talked about killing Ramseur, they subsequently recanted their trial testimony. One confessed that he lied when he testified that Chapman made incriminating statements. The other testified that she did not believe that Chapman killed Ramseur. She also admitted that she lied when she testified that Chapman said he cracked Chris Walker's girlfriend in the head with a brick, explaining that the police told her that Ramseur was hit in the head with a brick. While there was a brick found at the crime scene, the "blood" turned out to be red paint.

The detectives' deceit and other flaws undermining Chapman's convictions were well known by the Attorney General's Office in August 2004 at the latest, because that is when they were established by the evidence, which was never seriously challenged. One wonders why, then, Attorney General Roy Cooper did nothing to correct this injustice, but instead forced Chapman to continue to litigate for the right to a new trial, at the expense of great public cost and three and a half more years of incarceration.

There was insufficient evidence to try Chapman in 1994, and there is insufficient evidence to proceed with a new trial. Prosecutorial zeal should never override the basic legal principle of "innocent until proven guilty."

(Jessica Leaven of Chapel Hill and Frank Goldsmith of Marion were post-conviction attorneys for Glen Edward Chapman.)